Astana Qazaqstan have cut up up their leaders Alexey Lutsenko and Mark Cavendish for the upcoming races in May, with the Kazakh climber taking over the Giro d’Italia because the Manxman gears up for his last Tour de France in Hungary.
Cavendish will begin the Tour de Hongrie as a substitute of the Giro as he continues to construct as much as the Tour the place he’ll take purpose at a report thirty fifth stage victory which might place him alone on the high of the win checklist above Eddy Merckx.
The five-day Tour de Hongrie often supplies a number of dash alternatives, supreme for the Manxman to search out his greatest kind after battling sickness and never scoring a win because the Tour of Colombia in February.
The hilly profile of lots of the phases ultimately week’s Tour of Turkey meant Cavendish was unable to contest the sprints. The closest he got here to success was on stage 7 when a mechanical downside meant Cavendish wasn’t in a position to end off the work of the Astana Qazaqstan lead-out.
Lutsenko will journey solely his second Giro and lead an Astana squad additionally that includes Italian nationwide champion Simone Velasco, former Giro stage winner Lorenzo Fortunato and Max Kanter after the German took his first professional win on the Tour of Turkey.
The Kazakh nationwide champion pulled out of his final race on the Tour de Romandie as a result of sickness after the primary stage however has regarded robust in 2024 with the general win and a stage victory on the Giro d’Abruzzo alongside a high 10 at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
If Lutsenko takes a stage win, he’ll full the set of Grand Tour victories after scoring victories on the Tour in 2020 and Vuelta in 2017.
Also dealing with off with Cavendish in Hungary shall be high sprinters Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla), Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor), Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers).
Perhaps essentially the most fascinating title on the beginning checklist is Peter Sagan, who shall be making his return to highway racing after retiring from the self-discipline on the finish of 2023. The three-time World Champion will race for Continental staff Pierre Baguette Cycling, the place his brother Juraj Sagan is a sports activities director.
Sagan underwent two coronary heart surgical procedures and had a cardiac recording system implanted in 2024 after struggling a tachycardic episode whereas racing in Spain for the Specialized Factory Racing mountain bike staff. His ambition for 2024 is to qualify for the MTB cross-country occasion on the Paris Olympics.
The Slovakian icon was one in all Cavendish’s key rivals all through his profession with the paid typically dealing with off on the Tour de France alongside the likes of Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel.